OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Hearing Range Test
Find the Highest Frequency You Can Hear
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How the Hearing Range Test works
This hearing range test plays a pure tone and tells you its frequency, so you can find the highest pitch your ears still pick up. Use the downward sweep and press Stop the moment the tone appears, or the upward sweep to find your low limit, or tune a single tone by hand. Wear headphones, start quiet, and never turn it up to chase a tone you cannot hear.
Young ears hear from about 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The top of that range shrinks with age — a change called presbycusis — and with noise exposure, so the highest tone you can hear is a rough indicator of how your hearing has held up.
How the hearing range test works
Each sweep covers 20 Hz to 20 kHz in thirty seconds on an exponential curve, so every octave gets the same time. The downward sweep is the better way to find your upper limit: it starts above your hearing and you press Stop when the tone first appears, which avoids the tendency to keep "hearing" a tone after it has gone. The panel shows the frequency at that moment and a rough age band.
Upper limit, roughly by age. These are typical values, not a diagnosis. Under 20, most people hear up to 19–20 kHz. Under 25, about 17 kHz. Up to about 40, around 15 kHz. By 50, 12 kHz is common, and past that 8–10 kHz is normal. The so-called mosquito tone at about 17.4 kHz is used because most adults cannot hear it.
Low limit. The upward sweep starts at 20 Hz. Below about 20 Hz sound is felt more than heard, and most headphones and all laptop speakers roll off well above that, so a late start on the upward sweep usually reflects the equipment rather than your ears.
Single tone. Enter a frequency and adjust it while it plays. This is useful for checking each ear separately: take one side of the headphones off and compare. A clear difference between ears is worth mentioning to a doctor.
Why the result is approximate. Browsers, sound cards and headphones all vary in how well they reproduce very high and very low tones, and there is no calibration of loudness here, so this cannot replace an audiogram from an audiologist. It is a quick check, best repeated on the same equipment to see change over time.
Safety. Pure tones at high volume can damage hearing, and very high tones may be loud even when you cannot hear them. The volume starts at 20 percent on a squared curve; keep it there.
FAQ
What is a normal hearing range?
For a healthy young adult, roughly 20 Hz to 20 kHz. The upper limit falls with age, and most adults over 40 hear to somewhere between 12 and 15 kHz. Losing the very top of the range is normal and does not affect understanding speech, which sits mostly below 8 kHz.
Is this a real hearing test?
No. It shows the frequency range your ears and equipment reproduce together, without calibrated loudness. A proper hearing test measures how quiet a tone can be at each frequency. If you notice trouble following conversation or ringing in the ears, see an audiologist.
Why can my friend hear a tone that I cannot?
Most often age, since high-frequency hearing declines steadily from the teens. Years of loud music, concerts or noisy work speed that up. Different headphones can also explain it, so compare on the same pair before drawing conclusions.
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